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Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background/aim: In Behçet’s disease (BD), arterial involvement represents a significant clinical challenge associated with serious complications. The present study evaluates the characteristic features, affected vessels, lesion types, treatments, and outcomes in BD patients with nonpulmonary arterial involvement.

Materials and methods: Included in this retrospective study were 65 BD patients whose interventions and clinical courses were accessed from medical records. The treatments administered included immunosuppressive (IS) therapies and surgical/endovascular procedures. Fisher’s exact and t-test/Mann–Whitney U test were used for statistical analysis.

Results: Fifty-nine of the patients (90.8%) were male. The median (Q1–Q3) follow-up was 4 (2–12.8) years. The most commonly affected vessels were the aorta (n = 21, 32.3%) and the femoral artery (n = 19, 29.2%). Aneurysm (n = 50, 63.2%) and thrombosis (n = 18, 22.7%) were the predominant lesions; 14 (21.5%) patients experienced arterial involvement while receiving IS therapy; and 11 (16.9%) had cardiac involvement. Cyclophosphamide and azathioprine were the most commonly used IS agents. Among the 39 (60%) patients who underwent surgical and/or interventional procedures, 32 (82%) had successful outcomes. A second arterial event was experienced by 15.3% of the sample during follow-up, and a third by 3%. Active disease was noted in nine (13.8%) patients at the time of their last visit, and of the six (9.2%) that died, most had both arterial and cardiac involvement.

Conclusion: Arterial involvement in BD mostly presents with aneurysms, especially in men. Surgical interventions in addition to IS therapies are required in approximately 50% of cases. As can be understood from the 15.3% relapse rate in the present study, arterial events are not uncommon, underlining the need for long-term monitoring and sustained IS treatment. Of the 9.2% of cases who died, most had both arterial and cardiac involvement.

Author ORCID Identifier

ÖZGE KARAKÖK: 0009-0005-1295-8739

DUYGU KERİM: 0000-0003-3962-7612

ŞERİFE ÇOŞKUN-SAĞIRKAYA: 0000-0001-7244-5488

GAMZE AKKUZU: 0000-0002-2133-0282

BURCU CEREN ULUDOĞAN: 0000-0001-7838-7629

GEZMİŞ KİMYON: 0000-0003-3775-639X

HASAN KOCAAYAN: 0009-0001-5169-0633

SENAR ŞAN: 0000-0002-0047-1019

ÖZKAN URAK: 0000-0002-7685-1069

GÖKÇE KENAR: 0000-0002-0485-1369

AYŞE CEFLE: 0000-0002-3273-7969

SERVET AKAR: 0000-0002-3734-1242

NAZİFENAZİFE ŞULE YAŞAR BİLGEYAŞAR-BİLGE: 0000-0002-0783-1072

CEMAL BES: 0000-0002-1730-2991

ŞÜKRAN ERTEN: 0000-0003-0717-8365

AHMET OMMA: 0000-0003-2582-7445

GÖKHAN KESER: 0000-0001-7289-1816

KENAN AKSU: 0000-0001-8889-2688

TÜLİN ERGUN: 0000-0002-9935-6298

HANERRAFİ HANER DİRESKENELİ: 0000-0003-2598-5806

FATMA ALİBAZ-ÖNER: 0000-0002-6653-1758

DOI

10.55730/1300-0144.6206

Keywords

arterial aneurysm, arterial involvement, arterial Thrombosis, Behçet's disease

First Page

730

Last Page

739

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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